Known low-pressure discharge lamps are increasingly replacing the incandescent lamp in the domestic sector. In the known low-pressure discharge lamps, the discharge vessel mostly consists of a singly or multiply bent tube which is arranged in a base. In this arrangement, a mounting plate constructed as a printed circuit board and on which an electronic ballast arrangement is soldered, is integrated in the base. The production costs for these compact low-pressure discharge lamps are relatively high, since many complicated fabrication steps are required in the production. One of these fabrication steps is making the electric connection between the supply leads of the discharge vessel and the corresponding terminals of the ballast arrangement. To date, the appropriate connecting wires have been brought together and, for example, crimped with a metal sleeve in order to produce this connection. A development of this simple connection is described in EP-A-0 452 743. This printed publication discloses a low-pressure discharge lamp of the type mentioned at the beginning which has holding pins with the aid of which the ends of the supply leads are aligned perpendicular to the U-shaped connecting wires of the ballast arrangement. During the assembly of the base housing and mounting plate with the base cap, the respective wires with which contact is to be made are arranged one behind another approximately at a right angle and pressed resiliently against one another with the aid of the holding pin and the inner wall of the base housing so that an electric connection is produced between the electrodes of the discharge vessel of the ballast arrangement.
A disadvantage of this prior art is that such an electrical connecting system is very complicated. This increases the production costs. Moreover, because it is necessary to ensure that the elements make contact reliably, the rate of production is not very high for such low-pressure discharge lamps.